{"id":148449,"date":"2023-07-04T00:21:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T04:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/english-reading-practice-for-beginners\/"},"modified":"2025-01-27T01:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T06:00:47","slug":"english-reading-practice-for-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/english-reading-practice-for-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Sites for English Reading Practice for Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"

With great books, you can explore magical worlds, travel backwards or forwards in time or see the world from another person’s perspective<\/em> (point of view)\u2014but only if you understand the words on the page.\u00a0If you want to start reading real English stories, you need to get some strong beginner English reading<\/a> practice<\/strong> first.<\/p>\n

For that, we have collected our five favorite English reading practice tools for beginner language learners<\/a>. They will give you exercises, activities and lessons to improve your reading comprehension quickly. We even have our own short story with questions and answers at the bottom of the article.<\/p>\n

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1. Ereadingworksheets: Online Reading and Language Arts Activitie<\/a>\"ereadingworksheets\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Ereadingworksheets is a website with a collection of texts for beginners<\/strong>\u00a0to practice their English language learning.<\/p>\n

This website is great because, aside from general reading comprehension practice, you can also target specific reading skills<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For example, if you struggle<\/em> with<\/em> (have a hard time with) how to differentiate characters in a story, you can read practice stories that focus on characterization<\/a> or the way characters are described.<\/p>\n

Other reading exercises focus on the author’s purpose<\/a> (what the author wants to convey<\/em> or say through the text) or improving your understanding of figurative language<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n

2. British Council LearnEnglishTeens: A1 Reading<\/a>\"learnenglish<\/a><\/h2>\n

This popular English learning resource has quizzes with reading materials<\/strong> so you can test your understanding of the texts.<\/p>\n

One of the best things about this site is its focus on practical reading. <\/strong>That means you will read texts that go beyond standard classroom lessons and into authentic materials native English speakers use in real life. For example, there are reading quizzes for things like posters<\/a> and thank you emails<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The website also groups lessons according to the standards set by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)<\/a>. As a beginner, you should start from the ones under the “A1” category, before progressing into “A2,” “B1,” “B2” and “C1” (in that order).<\/p>\n

3. ETS TOEFL Junior: Reading Comprehension Sample Questions<\/a>\"ets<\/a><\/h2>\n

Unlike some of the other pages, TOEFL Junior is not an interactive<\/em> quiz site, meaning you cannot answer the quizzes on the website and receive your scores in minutes or seconds. Instead, it walks you through sample questions from the reading section of the TOEFL Junior English proficiency exam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can write down your answers somewhere else (like in a notebook or your computer) and then compare them to the answer key. The questions are ordered from easiest to hardest, so answer them according to what level you are at the moment.<\/p>\n

Although some of the sample questions are a bit difficult, they include pictures to help you understand.<\/p>\n

While anyone can benefit from these reading exercises, they work best if you want to take the TOEFL Junior or standard TOEFL exam.<\/p>\n

4. rong-chang: ESL Easy Reading<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"rong-chang\"<\/a>On this site, you can read brief<\/em> (short) stories on different topics.<\/strong> Afterwards, you can click on any of the options at the end of each story to check your vocabulary, sentence construction<\/a>, etc.<\/p>\n

You also have the option to hear the story read out loud and slowly <\/strong>by clicking the “Play” button on the audio file<\/em> (sound-only file) on top of each story. This way, you can combine reading and listening skills<\/a> to help you understand the story and practice your pronunciation.<\/p>\n

5. Khan Academy: SAT Reading and Writing Practice<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Khan Academy has sample tests and readings from the SAT<\/a>, a standardized test most high school students in the U.S. take before applying to college.<\/p>\n

Instead of just reading stories, you will practice your academic reading<\/strong> on this site. Khan Academy has a list of videos that go through sample SAT reading questions with you.<\/p>\n

The videos will show you how to understand as much of the reading as possible and how to think through each of your answers. There are videos for different kinds of reading questions that focus on different subjects, such as literature or science.<\/p>\n

If you cannot follow the video all the way through, you can also click “Transcript” below each video and see the written version of the video narration.<\/p>\n

How Does Reading Help Your English?<\/h2>\n

Reading is a fun way to learn English, because it does not have to feel like studying<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For example, you can enjoy a story while improving your English along the way. You learn to recognize proper grammar<\/a><\/strong> and how its rules are applied. If you read enough, you will notice when something is written incorrectly, because you are already familiar with the correct structure.<\/p>\n

Reading will also improve your conversational English<\/a><\/strong>. Many stories have dialogues, which are usually good examples of natural English conversations.<\/p>\n

Finally, reading in English is an incredibly useful skill for life in an English-speaking country<\/strong>. The better you can read in English, the more you will understand your surroundings. Practice reading in English regularly<\/a> and you will have no trouble understanding notes, signs, emails, academic texts and the like from the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n

How to Improve Your Comprehension While You Read<\/h2>\n

If you begin by trying to read a difficult book<\/a> like “Moby Dick,” you will become frustrated and want to give up because you are not seeing any progress.<\/p>\n

Instead, start by reading short stories or even just paragraphs of easy text<\/strong>. Once you are sure you understand the shorter stories, you can move on to harder texts.<\/p>\n

Most English reading practice resources like the ones above have materials for different levels, so you can take your time moving through each level.<\/p>\n

When you come across difficult words, always try to understand using context before pulling out the dictionary<\/a><\/strong>. This will force you to use your reading comprehension skills.<\/p>\n

If you really cannot figure out the word and it seems important to the story, that is the time you look it up. Try not to look for every word in a dictionary, though, because if you are too focused on the individual words, you will lose track of what you are reading and not retain<\/em> (keep) much information.<\/p>\n

You can also turn to subtitled English videos, like the kind on FluentU<\/a>. Watching videos and listening to the words out loud will help you understand what you’re reading by giving you more context.

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \"FluentU\r\n

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